TWO GENERATIONS OF HOME SCHOOLING

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This unfortunate occurrence did give me a sharp basis for comparing the value of home and school instruction. All four older children (now in their early and middle twenties) are today good readers who enjoy books greatly. Moreover, three of them developed a spontaneous — and continuing — interest in creative writing.

The two youngest children — who are in their late teens — are just as bright as their older siblings and can , indeed, read competently. But they don't like to sit down with a book or magazine . . . and don't write for pleasure, either. Reading inevitably reminds them of tedious hours spent with uninspiring texts and teachers ... and that association has "taught" them that all literary activity is boring.

As you can see, I feel that home schooling gave my older children a great love for reading that the others lack. Yet my particular teaching procedure was actually very uncomplicated. Here's what I did:

First, I set a good example. I am myself an insatiably curious, omnivorous reader ... so all of my children could see from my behavior that reading must be an enjoyable, rewarding activity for some people. (The home-taught children, of course, had many more opportunities to make this observation than did the others.)

Second, I often read aloud to the four older children . . . individually, so that each one could learn for him- or herself that books can be interesting and entertaining, beautiful and funny. (Because I always kept the listener beside me or on my lap at such times, the child also learned to associate reading with attention and affection.)

Third, I occasionally pointed out distinctivelooking words as I read ... and watched the youngster's face for that glimmer of comprehension which appears when a child discovers that each word has its own specific symbol. At first, the only response from the young listener would be a blank look. When this happened, I never pressed the point but went back to reading the story, because I feel it's very important not to give children the idea that — merely because they don't have all the information that "giant" adults do — they're inadequate or stupid in any way.

Fourth, when the day arrived that a youngster did start noticing distinctive groups of letters, I knew he or she was ready to begin to memorize words on the basis of their general appearance ... to acquire what schoolteachers call a "sight vocabulary". (For some reason, each of my four home-taught offspring seemed to reach this point at the age of two and a half.) I then started daily reading lessons to help the youngster build up a body of recognized words. However, I always stopped these lessons at — or before — the first signs of boredom or restlessness.

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